Charles Wesley

“ Indeed, there is not much about this period of English history concerning which the modern Englishman can feel really proud except that great religious revival which began with the thoughts and the teachings of John Wesley. One turns in relief from the partisan struggles in Parliament and out of it, from the intrigues and counter-intrigues of selfish and perfidious statesmen, and {145} the alcove conspiracies of worthless women, to Wesley and his religious visions, to Whitefield and his colliers, to Charles Wesley and his sweet devotional hymns. ”

“ WESLEY, Charles, son of the Rev. Charles Wesley and nephew of the celebrated Rev. John Wesley, was born at Bristol, Dec. 11, 1757. His musical instinct displayed itself in early infancy, and at two years and three-quarters old he could play 'a tune on the harpsichord readily and in just time,' and 'always put a true bass to it.' He was taken to London, and Beard offered to get him admitted as a child of the Chapel-Royal, but his father declined it, having then no intention of educating him as a musician. ”

“ As we have seen, the one solitary instance of the strong man's breaking down was on the death of his brother. And Charles Wesley was thoroughly worthy of every good man's love. His fame (except as a poet) has been somewhat overshadowed by the still greater renown of his brother, but he contributed his full share towards the success of the Evangelical Revival.
If John Wesley was the great leader and organiser, Charles Wesley the great poet, and George Whitefield the great preacher of Methodism, the highest type of saintliness which it produced was unquestionably John Fletcher (1729-1785) . ”

“ His offered compromise was accepted by a committee, but the dispute went on; both parties began civil actions. Proceedings were stayed; the London society paying all costs, amounting to over 2,000l.
The first volume of Whitehead's ‘Life’ of Wesley was published in 1793, 8vo, the included ‘Life’ of Charles Wesley being issued separately in the same year; the second volume appeared in 1796, 8vo. It fell undeservedly flat, being in every respect superior to the ‘Life’ by Coke and Moore. In 1796 Whitehead returned Wesley's papers to the methodist book-room. ”

“ In 1753, when John Wesley was dangerously ill, Charles Wesley distinctly told the societies that he neither could nor would stand in his brother's place, if it pleased God to take him, for he had neither a body, nor a mind, nor talents, nor grace for it. In 1779, he wrote to his brother in terms as peremptory as John himself was wont to use, and such as few others would have dared to employ in addressing the founder of Methodism. 'The preachers,' he writes, [754] 'do not love the Church of England. When we are gone, a separation is inevitable. ”

“ Charles Wesley wanted him to hire one for the man to ride by the side of their carriage, and that it would save the society a guinea if I would lend my horse instead of their hiring one, I said, ‘with all my heart.’ But I was soon informed by your brother, that the London stewards would not like my horse to go ”

“ Wesley's opinion about fasting.—At Wroote once more.—Mr. Wesley's "Good-bye."
ILL you look on your map of England and find London? Now find Oxford. The two places are a long way apart, are they not?
Well, do you know Mr. John and Mr. Charles Wesley used often to walk all that long way to see a friend. You know there were no railways in those days, and to go by coach cost a great deal of money. This friend's name was Mr. Law; he was a very good man, and encouraged and helped the two brothers very much. He taught them that "religion is the simplest thing in the world." ”

“ Will you call at Everton, as you go to, or return from Bedford? You will be welcome. My invitation is sincere and friendly: accept of it. I send my love to your brother, and to all that labour among you. May grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied on you, and your affectionate servant,
“John Berridge.” [378]
Charles Wesley was an itinerant preacher no longer. ”

“ Talk with any that holds it, and so you will find.
“On Friday and Saturday next is our little conference at Limerick. We join in love.” [175]
No one reading Charles Wesley’s hymns will, for a moment, entertain the accusation, that he sympathised with the Calvinian tenets of his friend Whitefield; and yet, remembering, that he and the Countess of Huntingdon were now living in terms of the most intimate friendship; and, that he was frequently preaching and administering the sacrament in her ladyship’s house, it is not surprising, that such a report should have become current. ”

“ Charles Wesley, in his incomparable hymns, left behind him one of the noblest legacies that an uninspired man ever bequeathed to the Christian church. George Whitefield was the [Pg 68] prince of preachers—a glorious emblem of the apocalyptic angel flying through the midst of heaven with the good tidings of great joy unto all people. And James Hervey will be loved and honoured as long as there are men to appreciate the highest order of Christian piety and the most mellifluent compositions in the English language. ”

“ Charles Wesley; then all the difficulties of the work were talked over, and arrangements made for the future. Mr. John Wesley presided, and for forty-six years after, at every [136] conference, their beloved leader and head took the chair at this annual gathering.
You will think that what with travelling and preaching, and looking after his helpers, and visiting the members, Mr. Wesley could not find time for much else. But it is always the busiest people who have the most time. As I told you before, Mr. Wesley began his days very early, getting up at four o'clock ”

“ He owned a farm in the neighbourhood of Canterbury, and was in easy circumstances. By his wife Charity, who died on 5 Dec. 1763, in her seventy-fourth year, he had at least twelve children, of whom Edward is noticed below; Charles, born in or about 1723, accompanied C. Wesley to Ireland in 1747, became one of the Wesleys' itinerant preachers, was somewhat insubordinate in 1750, and deeply offended J. Wesley by printing and circulating a letter at Norwich contrary to his orders in 1754 ”

“ These hints will suggest to the reader an idea of the work [Pg 538] that was being done by the preachers who propagated Whitefield’s doctrines. All the letters, filling more than a hundred pages of the “Christian History,” breathe the most ardent piety, and are full of gratitude, hope, and exultation.
Charles Wesley spent the first two months of 1747 in a journey from Newcastle to Bristol. The next six months he made London and Bristol the centre of his operations. The last four months of the year were employed in Ireland. ”

“ Amidst that general fire,
And shrivel as a parchment scroll,
And all in smoke expire!
Yet still the Lord, the Savior reigns,
When nature is destroyed,
And no created thing remains
Throughout the flaming void. ”

“ In the prosecution of their mission they practiced the most rigid austerities. They slept on the ground instead of on beds, lived on bread and water, dispensing with all the luxuries and most of the necessities of life. They were, in season and out of season, everywhere urging the people to a holy life. Wesley set apart three hours of each day for visiting the people at their homes, choosing [65] the midday hours when the people were kept indoors by the scorching heat.
Charles Wesley and Mr. Ingham were at Frederica, where the people were frank to declare that they liked nothing they did. ”

“ No man was ever more ready to confess his faults, no man ever had a larger heart or was actuated by a truer spirit of Christian charity than George Whitefield. Never was there a man of a more forgiving temper than John Wesley. 'Ten thousand times would I rather have died than part with my old friends,' said Whitefield of the Wesleys. 'Bigotry flies before him and cannot stand,' said John Wesley of Whitefield. It was impossible that an alienation between two such men, both of whom were only anxious to do one great work, should be permanent. ”

“ The Living Bible The Bible is a living book. What it is to us depends on what we are to it. If we approach it with unbelief and sneers, it shudders like a wounded thing and closes up its heart, and we gaze only on a cold and gross exterior. ”

“ Shouting their heavenly Zion gain,
And pass through death triumphant home.
The pain of life shall there be o’er,
The anguish and distracting care,
There sighing grief shall weep no more,
And sin shall never enter there. ”

“ Join all on earth, rejoice and sing;
Glory ascribe to glory’s King.
High on His holy seat
He bears the righteous sway;
His foes beneath His feet
Shall sink and die away:
Join all on earth, rejoice and sing ”

“ John Wesley affirmed (in an unfinished sketch of his brother's life, written 1790, and meant for publication) that at this period Garrett Wesley or Wellesley (d. 23 Sept. 1728) of Dangan, co. Meath, wrote to his father proposing to provide for Charles's education and adopt him as his heir. Money was accordingly paid for his schooling for some years, but Charles was unwilling to go to Ireland (Moore, 1824, i. 152) ; Maxwell (Life of Wellington, 1839, i. 6) thinks the matter overstated. ”

“ Have faith in the Word, and leave the rest to Providence. ‘The Lord will provide’ is a comfortable motto for a believer.” [95]
Thus by proposing to act as mediator between the Wesleys and their distracted followers in London did Fletcher 86end the eventful year of 1762. In the middle of the year he told Charles Wesley that he had “attempted to form a Society,” and hoped to succeed. ”

“ In preaching power he was not equal to Whitefield; in saintliness of character he was surpassed by Fletcher; in poetical talent he was inferior to his brother; in solid learning he was, perhaps, not equal to his friend and disciple Adam Clarke. But no one man combined all these characteristics in so remarkable a degree as John Wesley; and he possessed others besides these which were all his own. He was a born ruler of men; the powers which under different conditions would have made him 'a heaven-born statesman' he dedicated to still nobler and more useful purposes. ”

“ There is a sudden explosion, then a silence, as the vibrating waves of mighty amplitude pass over the valley to wake the voice of the mountain beyond, which, standing like a sentinel on guard, speaks in thunder tones to the next, and that repeats the sublime echo until all the mountains join in the chorus, answering back to the heavens. ”

“ Th' unfathomable Grace!
Who shall say how Bread and Wine
God into Man conveys!
How the Bread his Flesh imparts,
How the Wine transmits his Blood,
Fills his faithful People's Hearts
With all the Life of God! ”

“ He moved to London in 1771 and died in Marylebone on March the 29th, 1788. He was strongly opposed to his brother's ordinations, and refused to be buried at City Road, because the ground there was unconsecrated. He was buried in the graveyard of Marylebone Old Church, but this appears to have been unconsecrated also.
Charles Wesley married Sarah Gwynne, daughter of a Welsh magistrate living at Garth, on April 8th, 1749. She died in 1822 at the age of ninety-six. Five of their children died as infants and are buried in St James’s Churchyard, Bristol. ”

“ Celebrate th' eternal God
with harp and psaltery,
timbrels soft and cymbals loud
in this high praise agree;
praise with every tuneful string;
all the reach of heavenly art,
all the powers of music bring,
the music of the heart. ”

“ Doth by his birth declare,
That God and man are reconcil'd,
And one in him we are.
Salvation thro' his name
To all mankind is given,
And loud his infant cries proclaim
A peace 'twixt earth and heaven. ”

“ A thousand troubles come when love grows cold: the eyes see no more as they once saw, the ears hear no more as before, the tongue talks differently, and the heart feels differently, the glow dies out of the eyes, the tenderness leaves the touch, sympathy wanes in the heart, and there is ashes for beauty and heaviness instead of praise. When the first love is left, when the divine fire is quenched, out of the life has gone its richness, its transfiguring beauty ”

“ Christ was born the Lord of all.
Born thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone ”

“ O that it now from heaven might fall
and all my sins consume!
Come, Holy Ghost, for thee I call,
Spirit of burning, come!
Refining fire, go through my heart,
illuminate my soul;
scatter thy life through every part
and sanctify the whole. ”

“ Again in Thy Spirit descend,
And set up in each of Thine own
A kingdom that never shall end!
Thou only art able to bless,
And make the glad nations obey,
And bid the dire enmity cease,
And bow the whole world to Thy sway. ”

“ Tear up the graves, and cleave the ground,
And make the greedy sea restore.
The greedy sea shall yield her dead,
The earth no more her slain conceal;
Sinners shall lift their guilty head,
And shrink to see a yawning hell. ”

“ Triumph o'er the shades of night;
Dayspring from on high, be near;
Daystar, in my heart appear.
Dark and cheerless is the morn
Unaccompanied by thee;
Joyless is the day's return,
Till thy mercy's beams I see ”

“ Streams of cooling, refreshing water fall on the thirsty plants. The drooping flowers raise again their heads to blush in beauty, and their fragrance floats out on the balmy air once more. A delicious coolness surrounds the place, and we delight to be there. ”